I decided not to torture you and make you wait a week for the cliffhanger to be resolved. I'm very surprised by these new sections. The idea for Chapters 10-12 only came to me a week ago. It's always good to keep an open mind when writing. And if you were wondering if there was going to be some Ellie/Casey interaction...well, you'll just have to read it.

As always, I hope you like the story, and PLEASE leave feedback. Pretty please? With sugar on it? Anything you want to say is fine with me.

Westside Medical Center
October 23, 2009
12:00 PM

Sarah and Jimmy stared down the two Ring agents holding Ellie hostage. Sarah slid her weapon in the waistband of Jimmy's pants so Ellie didn't see the gun in her possession.

"Ellie…" Sarah said gently as she put her hand out to try and calm her.

"Unload the gun and drop it on the ground, Slade," the man holding Ellie ordered.

Jimmy stared at them, wanting nothing more than to put a bullet through each of their skulls. He lowered the gun, pulled out the magazine, and pulled back on the slide to eject the bullet in the chamber. He tossed the empty gun on the ground in front of him.

"And the other gun, Jimmy…" the second man said.

Sons of bitches know how to count, Jimmy thought. He pulled the gun out from behind his back, took out the ammunition, and dropped it on the ground as well. Sarah moved carefully behind him so the two agents could not see all of her.

"Stall, Jimmy," Sarah whispered.

"Let's go, Slade." The first agent pushed his gun further under Ellie's chin for emphasis.

"How do I know you won't kill her after I give myself up?"

"You don't really have a choice, do you," the second agent threatened.

"Uh-uh. I'm not making it that simple. You need me alive, and you know it. If she so much as breaks a nail, I'll make sure none of us leave this hospital breathing. We do this at the same time. The doctor walks over here, and I walk over there."

Sarah put her hands on Jimmy's back and nudged him forward. He took two steps and carefully slid to his left per Sarah's guidance. Sarah stood next to a tray table while Jimmy blocked the agents' view of her and the tray.

"One step at a time. You try anything, Slade…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the routine. I've seen enough movies." Jimmy was seething inside, but he hoped whatever Sarah had in mind worked. If it resulted in the deaths of these two bastards, it would be a nicely added bonus.

Sarah pulled a sterile cloth back on the tray. She found exactly what she needed. She slipped two scalpels off the emergency prep tray. She took Jimmy's left hand and placed the scalpels in it. Jimmy felt what Sarah handed him and gave the slightest of nods. He glanced behind him, gesturing with his hand for Sarah to move back. Sarah looked back to the same location Jimmy did and understood what he had in mind. She moved back a few feet and stood in the center of the hallway.

"Move slowly, Slade."

"Would you like my hands up or anything?" he asked with a tinge of sarcasm.

"Behind your head."

Jimmy acquiesced to their demand, carefully palming the scalpels so the agents wouldn't see them. Behind his head, he rolled one of the scalpels into the four non-broken fingers of his right hand and held the other in his left. He looked at Ellie as calmly as he could.

"Doc, just take it nice and slow. You can do this. One step at a time."

Jimmy took a step forward towards the agents. The agent took the gun from under Ellie's chin and pushed her forward. She shook uncontrollably as she walked towards Jimmy. Sarah watched everything from behind them. Jimmy put out three fingers behind his head. Sarah kept an eye on Jimmy's count as he continued to step forward. Ellie walked timidly, and her eyes were wide with fear.

Two fingers.

Jimmy's eyes were dead cold and fixed on the two guns pointed at Ellie and him. Ellie moved forward slowly. They were within 5 feet of each other.

One finger.

Sarah needed all of her self-discipline not to tense up. She glanced at the door to her right. She was ready to pounce. Ellie got to within two feet of Jimmy.

Jimmy's hands came down. He planted his hands on Ellie's back and shoved her towards Sarah. Sarah caught Ellie and dove into a patient's room with her. Jimmy charged the two agents, throwing the scalpel in his left hand like a dagger at the agent on his left. It penetrated the agent's shoulder blade dead-on, causing him to drop his gun. He slashed at the other agent's wrist with the scalpel in his right hand, who dropped his gun as blood came out. Jimmy kicked hard into the groin of the agent on the left while body-slamming the other agent into the wall. Pushing off the back of the agent in the wall, he landed a hard kick on the first agent, his foot connecting directly with the agent's throat. He took the scalpel and slashed the agent he slammed into the wall across the neck. Both agents fell dead. Jimmy dropped the scalpel and collapsed against the wall desperately trying to breathe.

Sarah and Ellie slowly peeked out of the room. Sarah sprinted over to the frantic Jimmy and grabbed him to stop him from falling to the floor.

"Jimmy! Jimmy. Come on. It's over. It's done." She held onto him tightly to get him to focus. Ellie was shaking as she walked slowly to them. Sarah held Jimmyup against the wall. "It's over. You did it. You did it." She took his hand as Ellie stood next to her. Sarah grabbed Ellie's hand as well. The three looked at the two dead agents on the floor. Jimmy's breathing slowly returned to normal. Sarah was breathing heavily herself, relieved beyond words.

"What I wouldn't give to hear a good one-liner from you right now," Sarah said as she continued to look at the dead agents in shock.

"Yeah," Jimmy replied softly. "Me, too."

Zork Computer Consultants
October 23, 2009
12:45 PM

Chuck and Morgan sat at the front desk enjoying their traditional Friday lunch. It wouldn't involve actual food for about 15 minutes. For the moment, they were blowing off steam…if this job actually gave them steam that needed blowing off…by engaging in another round of Call of Duty.

"Dude, you need to change this place to a four-day week. That way, there's a whole three-day weekend to relax." Morgan continued to dream up more schemes to work as little as possible.

"OK. You do realize that would require you to work 10 hours a day, correct? That is, if you actually put in that many hours in a week?"

The door flew open, and Casey entered in a rush.

"I thought you had the day off," Chuck inquired in confusion.

"Let's go," Casey barked, as he had no time for pretense. "They need you for a networking emergency."

Chuck got up right away and headed for the door, leaving Morgan in the lurch.

"Chuck! What about lunch? We're hitting the Buy More in a few minutes. Friday fajita trays!"

"Morgan, try something novel: bring your lunch with you to work."

Chuck and Casey exited the office. Casey barely let Chuck settle into the passenger seat of the car before peeling out of the Buy More mall lot.

"Casey! I don't think they're going to do another Cannonball Run movie, so quit making an audition tape."

"We're going to the hospital. The Ring tried to grab Slade again."

"What?"

"There's a lot more. Ellie was involved. They tried to take her hostage."

Chuck could feel a chill go down his back. His fear rose quickly. "So, they know she works there? Is she OK?"

"She's fine and so is Sarah. It's already over. Sarah doesn't think The Ring knew who Ellie was. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sarah's trying to get the situation under control right now. She tried calling Devon, but he's in emergency surgery. They'll get him as soon as he finishes."

"What about Jimmy?"

Casey shook his head in disbelief. He had no idea if Jimmy was that damn lucky or that damn good. "He and Sarah took care of it."

Chuck sat in the passenger seat in dead silence, mouth agape, while Casey weaved in and out of traffic to get to the hospital.

Westside Medical Center
October 23, 2009
1:00 PM

Sarah and Jimmy stood in an empty room down the hall from where the confrontation took place. Ellie was outside talking with two police officers and several federal agents about what happened. Sarah was on the phone with Washington D.C. providing a preliminary report regarding the situation with The Ring and their attempt to capture Jimmy. Jimmy paced back and forth at the opposite end of the room from Sarah. He was no longer hyperventilating, but he was still beside himself over what happened. To be involved in a hostage situation was traumatic enough for any individual. The fact Chuck's sister was the one to be taken hostage was becoming too much for him to handle.

Sarah completed her call and looked at Jimmy. "Casey is on his way, and Chuck is with him. They'll talk to Devon as soon as his finishes with surgery."

Jimmy's arms were folded around his body and he was barely holding himself together. "Chuck is going to kill us. He is absolutely going to kill us!"

"He is not going to kill us."

Jimmy stopped and looked at her. "OK. He's going to kill me. You'll be the first woman in the history of relationships who has to sleep on the couch."

"Come on. Don't do this. You have to calm down."

Jimmy paced back and forth even faster. "How the hell can I calm down? Ellie was almost killed out there! And it's my fault!"

"Your fault?!" Sarah was incredulous. "You didn't put her life in danger! You saved it! You came through again! They keep coming after you and you keep stopping them. You're a hero!"

Jimmy stared at her in horror. "Are you insane? I'm not a hero! I didn't save her life! Her life never should have been in danger in the first place! Anybody I'm near, somebody tries to kill them! I…I…I'm like a deadly Cousin Oliver!"

Sarah gave him a weird look. "Cousin Oliver?"

"Oh, never mind!"

Sarah grabbed him and pushed him up against the wall. "Listen to me! Don't do this to yourself! You didn't cause any of this. OK? You didn't do ANYTHING wrong!" Sarah held his face tightly so he was forced to look directly into her eyes. Her voice cracked as the stress of the situation got to her. "Please, Jimmy. None of this is your fault. You didn't ask for this. And yet you still helped us out. What you've done is nothing short of amazing. Just stay with us, OK? We need you. You're too damn good to give up now. Like I said, you are never going to shake us. You can't drive us away, because we know we're right about you. The people in your past were wrong. They didn't know who you really were. But we do."

Jimmy stood there, his eyes shifting back and forth between focused and unfocused. Tears started coming down his cheeks. Sarah pulled him to her and held on tightly. Jimmy shook uncontrollably in her arms.

"We need you, Jimmy," Sarah said quietly into Jimmy's ear as her hold on him intensified. "We're here for you. We care about you."

Jimmy buried his face in her shoulder. These last few minutes hurt him in a way he hadn't felt in years. Maybe he immunized himself to his past before now. His anger and hatred always shielded him from being hurt for the longest time. After years of ridicule and abuse, he thought his shell was tough enough to withstand anything. But what used to be his only allies abandoned him when he needed them the most. Chuck, Sarah, and Casey were people who didn't look at him with contempt or scorn. They even made him feel wanted. But all that did was put them in danger. He helped them fight that danger again and again. But like the kids who used to pick on him in school, the danger didn't go away every time he fought it off. It just came back stronger and nastier every time.

But maybe that was the point. He wasn't doing it alone. This wasn't like school where he was by himself and couldn't rely on help from the teachers or even his parents. For the first time in his life, he had people who wanted to help him. Sarah said they cared about him, and she wasn't the type of person to idly throw a phrase like that around. Casey may not have been as hands-on about it, but it was obvious he took protecting people seriously. And Chuck was the glue that held everybody together. Sarah and Casey would give up their lives for him, and it was apparent his reach extended to Jimmy as well.

His shaking eventually subsided, and he looked up. Sarah still had a tight grip on him. He noticed her face was buried in his shoulder, and he could feel her shaking as well. He suddenly like a complete heel. He was going out of his mind about what happened without even realizing the sister of her boyfriend was almost killed. Certainly Sarah and Ellie had to be close; the whole family seemed very welcoming. It must have been killing her to see Ellie with a gun to her head and unable to do anything about it. But she was just as responsible for saving Ellie's life as he was. She came up with the plan; he simply executed it. He held onto her until she took her face off of his shoulder.

"I guess I wasn't the only one who needed that 'it's not your fault' hug," he said softly.

She looked up at him with a few tears welling in her eyes and nodded with a smile. "I guess I did need it. And you're a very huggable person. Like hugging a big teddy bear."

"Funny, I never would have pegged you for someone who did that a lot."

"Me, neither. Those damn Bartowskis will get to you one way or another. I used to be a vicious, cold-hearted bitch and was proud of it."

There was a mischievous twinkle in Jimmy's eyes. "Ahhh, don't sell yourself short, Sarah. You're a tremendous vicious, cold-hearted bitch."

Sarah started laughing hysterically. She had to hold on to Jimmy to not fall on the floor laughing her head off.

"Oh, that's what I needed to hear from you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss.

Ellie burst into the room. Her demeanor was completely different from 30 minutes ago. She was furious and went right up to Jimmy, almost ready to attack him.

"Who the hell are you? Why were those people trying to kill you? Why did they keep calling you Slade? You said your name was Anthony Todd. How could you drag Sarah into this? We almost get killed and they're after you? What the hell have you done?"

Sarah tried to pull Ellie away from Jimmy and held her hands tightly. "Ellie, please calm down. I can explain everything."

Ellie got away from Sarah and got in Jimmy's face again. "Did you put Chuck in danger? Is someone trying to kill him, too? Answer me, dammit!"

"Dr. Woodcomb, I am very sorry for everything that has happened. Your brother is on the way right now, and we have someone waiting to contact your husband the second he is out of the O.R." Jimmy spoke to Ellie in a flat but authoritative voice, something that took Sarah by surprise. "If you could please take a seat, I will explain everything to you."

Ellie was still incensed. "If you did anything to…"

"Dr. Woodcomb, please!" That stopped Ellie in her tracks. Sarah pulled out a chair behind Ellie and guided her to it. Sarah looked at Jimmy, wondering what he was trying to do, but Jimmy gave her a reassuring glance Ellie didn't notice.

"Once again, I am very sorry for what happened. It was very unfortunate you got caught up in this. But let me assure you, nobody in your family was subjected to any danger whatsoever. Well, before now. Of course, nothing I say here can leave this room." Jimmy walked behind Ellie to where Sarah was and motioned to her back pocket. Sarah quietly slipped Jimmy her CIA badge and ID.

"Why did those men call you Jimmy Slade?" Ellie's voice was calm but still firm enough to demand an answer.

"My name isn't Anthony Todd, and I am not a computer trainer." He held up Sarah's ID with his hand covering her picture. "I'm Jimmy Slade. I'm with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. O.C.D."

Ellie's head tilted in confusion. "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?"

Jimmy smiled slightly. "Organized Crime Division, Doctor. Your brother and his girlfriend, through his company, have spent the last two weeks assisting me in bringing down the Tizuno family, one of the most powerful crime syndicates on the West Coast."

"What? He's been helping you take down the mob? He doesn't have that kind of training!"

"It's not what you think, Doctor. Let me put it this way: how did the FBI take down Al Capone?"

"Taxes, I know. I saw The Untouchables."

"Well, things haven't changed much in 80 years. If you want to take down crime syndicates, you go after their taxes, their legitimate businesses, and their money. Investigate the ways by which they launder funds. The Tizuno family is very powerful because they are well-organized and smart. They have been using high-level encryption programs and a complicated computer network setup to hide their misdeeds. And unfortunately, they don't pay enough in the federal government for us to attract the best and the brightest to our I.T. section. That's why my supervisor authorized me to go deep undercover. Use any and all means to take them down.

"One of the programs Chuck developed is able to break almost 90% of the data encryption the Tizuno family was using to cover their organization. I contracted with him and set up access into their network. We piggybacked on internal network locations at FBI headquarters in Virginia. As far as the Tizuno family was concerned, if they suspected anything, whatever they tried to trace left them running in circles. Chuck was able to get volumes of data on the Tizuno's activities, enough to put away most of the upper echelon of the family for several lifetimes. He collected all of the data and put it on flash drives for me. I took those flash drives, and the Attorney General's office is helping me build the case now to take them down."

"Wait. That means Chuck is a witness in this? They'll kill him before he can testify. He is NOT going into protective custody!"

"No, not at all, Doctor. Actually, this is where Sarah comes in. As I'm sure you already know, Sarah is very protective of her boyfriend."

Ellie looked at Sarah and nodded. "Yes. One of the best things to happen to our family was when she started going out with Chuck." This elicited a warm smile between the two women.

Jimmy made it a point to scratch an imaginary itch near his left eye; the one Sarah hit two nights ago. "Yes, well, I found out the hard way just how protective she is of Chuck."

Behind Ellie, Sarah shot him a dirty look. Jimmy responded with a teasing smirk before continuing. "Not long after you found me on Chuck's couch, Sarah discovered who I really was. Chuck had not told her to that point what my actual mission was per my instructions. Sarah was, you might have guessed, not very happy about the situation. However, it was too late to stop the operation, so she volunteered the Orange Orange as drop-off point. I would pick up the flash drives of data Chuck completed from her under the guise of getting some frozen yogurt. Chuck and I never made face-to-face contact in any unsecured location. All dealings with the data I had were through Sarah. She is a very brave individual. I'm actually having her type up her resume. I think she'd be great as an FBI agent once she goes through training."

Sarah had to suppress a smile. The training she got through the CIA made Quantico look like a high school physical education class. Jimmy probably threw that in there to give her a laugh.

Ellie appeared to be buying the story but had more questions. "How do you know that the Tizuno family wasn't watching all of this happen?"

"That was John Casey's job, Dr. Woodcomb. He set up surveillance on the Orange Orange, the Buy More, your brother's office, and 5 other locations that we used as fake drop-off points. He monitored chatter from several members of the crime family I suspected knew of my dealings. I made sure to make regular visits to those fake locations as often as the Orange Orange in order to throw them off my scent. Sarah was kind enough to play along. As far as the Tizunos were concerned, I only went there to get frozen yogurt and hit on the lady running the shop. Fortunately, she kept turning me down. I mean, she had to make it look real, right? No point throwing this dog a bone."

"Oh, please." Ellie gave him a smile. Hook, line, and sinker, Jimmy thought.

"Trust me, Doc. I'm one of those people who are totally aware of who they are and what they look like. Sarah is way out of my league. Both of you are, actually. Hell, both of you are out of this entire planet's league."

Ellie looked away from Jimmy and blushed a bit. Well, he had to give her a little something. She most decidedly deserved a little ego boost after what happened today.

"Anyway, the Tizuno family thought a coffee house miles from the Orange Orange was the actual pick-up spot. They tailed me from there in a van, and that's how I ended up in the hospital, Doctor. That road rage incident actually was them trying to kill me. Obviously, they didn't succeed. And thanks to Chuck, Sarah, and Casey, all of the flash drives have been turned over to the Attorney General to bring the Tizuno family to justice. The three of them are all done, and they did a great service to the country. The FBI wants to throw some freelance work Chuck's way for the great job he did. Between the FBI and several other government agencies, we can give him enough work to keep him living quite comfortably for the rest of his life. Of course, within a week or so, you'll never see me again. I basically have a target on my back now. The further I get from all of you, the better…for all of you, that is."

Sarah looked down at the ground. She was crestfallen because she knew that had to happen. It just felt very disturbing Jimmy's elaborate lie had several parts in it that were the truth, with the last part being the most truthful…and hurtful.

"Well thank you, Agent Slade, for helping my brother's business and trying to keep him as safe as possible."

"Actually, it's Sarah and Casey you should thank, Dr. Woodcomb. They think the world of Chuck and would do anything to protect him."

"Yes, so would I."

"I don't doubt that for one second, ma'am."

Ellie rose from the chair and gave Sarah a big hug.

"Thank you so much today, Sarah. You really helped me. I wouldn't have gotten through it without you."

"I'm so glad you're OK, Ellie." Sarah hugged her sister tightly. Ellie was the closest thing she had to a family. As far as Sarah was concerned, they were family.

Ellie turned to Jimmy. He put his hand out and she put her arms up to give him a hug. She saw his hand out and shot him the same look that shut him up earlier that morning in the hospital room. He dropped his hand instantly and put his arms around her when she hugged him.

"Thank you for saving my life, Mr. Slade."

"Was glad to do it, Dr. Woodcomb. And it's Jimmy. I'm very sorry it came to that in the first place. But you're a very brave person. Not a lot of people could keep it together like you did." That wasn't a lie, either. After all, he crumbled right after it was over.

Ellie opened the door as Chuck and Casey walked up. Chuck was overjoyed to see Ellie. The two siblings fell into a hug.

"Thank God you're OK, El."

"Me? I didn't know you were doing such dangerous work for the government."

Chuck got a little wide-eyed. Did she know about the Intersect?

"Chuck," Sarah quickly interjected. "Ellie knows all about the computer work and surveillance you and Casey did for Agent Slade and the FBI."

Chuck gave Sarah a confused look. He then stared at Jimmy for a brief second. A smile formed across his face. He turned back to Ellie.

"Well, you know, sis. Do my little part to help and get paid for it, too. Right?"

"OK, but PROMISE me you won't do any more dangerous work for the government. I don't want to see you doing anything more hazardous than chasing 15-year-old kids releasing computer viruses."

"Uh, no problem, Ellie. I'll do my best. You know how I am about getting into danger."

Casey broke up the mutual hugging society. "Devon's surgery still has an hour left in it. Someone is down there who will tell him what happened. Do you want me to give you a ride home, Doctor, or would you rather wait for him?"

Ellie looked in the direction where the O.R. would be and then looked at Casey. "I think I'll take the ride home now, if it isn't inconvenient for you."

"Not at all, Dr. Woodcomb. This way, if you would."

"OK, I'll call the two of you tonight. I love you." Ellie gave Chuck and Sarah a kiss apiece and walked out with Casey. Chuck and Sarah re-entered the room and stared at Jimmy. Chuck was very confused, and Sarah was practically awestruck. She couldn't get over how well that worked.

"You're a pretty good liar when you want to be, Jimmy."

"OK, what…what is going on here? Why was Ellie in danger? This is a little too familiar! I don't want her involved in any of this!" Chuck's voice was starting to show anger.

"Chuck, please." Sarah took his hands in hers to calm him. "There was nothing that could have been done. Someone tried to attack Jimmy in his hospital room. I got him out of there, but then we were confronted in the hallway by two agents with guns. Ellie walked right into it by accident. They grabbed her before we could do anything."

"But…but what happened?"

"Jimmy is what happened. He pulled Ellie out of line of fire, took out both agents with only two scalpels for weapons, and he even managed to keep our cover intact with your sister."

"She's making what I did sound more heroic than it really was," Jimmy replied with a dismissive wave. "It was all Sarah's idea, I was just following directions. She kept us all from coming apart."

Sarah turned to Jimmy with a crazed-and-angry combination in her eyes. She strained her words through tightly-clenched teeth. "Will...you…PLEASE…stop…doing…that!"

Even Chuck began to back away from Sarah. "Um, Jimmy, you better just let her have that one. I've seen that look before, and it isn't pretty. I suggest you quit while you're…well, alive."

Jimmy put his hands up in surrender. "Uh, yeah. You may be right, Chuck. I think I would prefer all of my body parts to still be there in the morning. Even the ones I don't use."

"Wise choice," Sarah hissed through her still-clenched teeth.

Brentwood Circle
October 23, 2009
2:30 PM

Casey drove the car into a circular driveway leading to a simple but elegant house. He quickly exited the car and went around to the passenger side to open Ellie's door. In spite of the exasperating nature of her younger brother, Casey always treated Ellie with the utmost respect. He also knew Ellie had something of a soft spot for the tall, dangerous NSA operative. He never gave it much thought, although he had to admit he wasn't entirely upset with Chuck when he decided to save his sister by giving her the antidote to the poison when all four of them needed it. 80% of Casey wanted Chuck to take the antidote, 10% of him wanted Sarah to have it, and the other 10% agreed with Chuck's decision to save his sister. Had Chuck attempted to force Casey to take the antidote, he would have found himself with a glass vial down his throat and a size 14 boot lodged deep in his ass.

Ellie stepped out of the car and exhaled in relief at seeing home. She turned to Casey. "Thanks for driving me home, John."

"That's quite alright, Dr. Woodcomb."

Ellie shot him a look. The only two civilians who could scare Casey with a mere look were his mother and Ellie. "I mean, that's quite alright, Ellie. Do you need me to wait until Devon arrives?"

"Oh, no. You've been very kind to me today."

Ellie went up to Casey and gave him a hug. He flinched a bit, but he wasn't entirely surprised to see her do this. Still, after the day she had, he was willing to make slight concessions on a harmless PDA.

Ellie kissed him on the cheek and looked him in the eyes. "And thank you for looking after Chuck and Sarah. You've been a big help."

"My pleasure, ma'am. Err…I mean, Ellie." Casey corrected himself before she could.

Casey watched her enter the house and made sure he heard the door lock behind her. He got back in the car. It wasn't entirely his pleasure having to keep an eye on the world's most annoying couple, but it beat having to face Ellie if anything ever happened to them.